In last week's installment of Sports Scope, my esteemed colleague David Picker took Orix BlueWave star center fielder Ichiro Suzuki to task for showing no interest in going to the 2000 Olympics. Well, I'm with Ichiro.
As far as I'm concerned, Olympic baseball inspires about as much excitement as the modern pentathlon.
The fact that baseball nonentities Italy and Holland are in this year's eight-team tournament while several far superior countries in the Western Hemisphere have been left out, makes the event hard to take seriously right off the bat.
The sport also has little Olympic tradition, only gaining medal status in 1992.
After the gold medal-winning performances by Cuba's "amateurs" in '92 and '96, professionals will be allowed for the first time to participate in the Sydney Games. Too bad the tournament takes place in September, right in the heat of Major League Baseball pennant races.
Perhaps some time this century we will we see a true world championship of baseball. However, as long as major leaguers aren't involved in the Olympics, those gold medals will ring hollow. Sure, Cuba still boasts a few MLB-quality players (those who haven't escaped the island on rickety boats or jumped to freedom over foreign outfield fences), but for the most part, all the best players in the world -- be they American, Mexican or Dominican -- are in the majors and will be nowhere to be found Down Under.
When pro basketball players were allowed into the 1992 Summer Olympics, there was no such conflict with the National Basketball Association season. While there was never any real doubt the superstars on the U.S. Dream Team would win, at least they were going up against the best opposition the world had to offer, a fact that gave the event legitimacy.
Hockey at the Winter Olympics also used to lack credibility because of conflict with the top league's schedule. National Hockey League owners eventually agreed to shut down operations for two weeks so that their stars could play in the 1998 Nagano Games. The competition was generally considered a success (except maybe by members of the room-trashing American team) and the league is now close to finalizing a deal to do the same for Salt Lake City in 2002.
In the unlikely event that baseball owners ever agree to halt their season for the Olympics, the 10-day format with single-elimination games in the semifinals and final would still be far from ideal. Any baseball team can be beaten on any given day by a hot pitcher or a bad bounce. A much better plan would be to hold a monthlong World Cup-style competition in November with, at the very least, best-of-three series in the semis and final.
Major puck-up:
Speaking of the NHL, the league announced last month that the Pittsburgh Penguins will take on the Nashville Predators for games Oct. 7 and 8 at the new Saitama Super Arena. This is the third time for NHL clubs to open with regular-season games in Japan, and this matchup of teams with losing records leaves me scratching my head.
No argument with the Penguins. They won two Stanley Cups in the 1990s, boast the top offensive star in the game today in Jaromir Jagr, three of his Czech teammates from the gold medal-winning team at Nagano, and even a superstar owner in Mario Lemieux.
But the Nashville Predators? Even the most dedicated hockey fan in Japan would be hard-pressed to name two players on this second-year franchise.
After a highly successful Japan debut with Vancouver and Anaheim in 1997, the NHL apparently learned nothing from the no-name Calgary-San Jose experience the following year, when thousands of seats were left empty and ticket scalpers outside Yoyogi Arena settled for half of face value.
When the announcement was made, Predators president Jack Diller had this to say: "It is our goal to combine Predators hockey, Nashville music and Tennessee business into a weeklong festival in Japan."
Yee-haw.
If the league wants to promote country music, it ought to send Tanya Tucker to Japan. If it wants to promote exciting hockey, it should send teams with some marquee value. A visit from one or two of the Original Six teams would be one possible improvement.
Last fall in Tokyo, basketball fans were treated to a series pitting Minnesota against Sacramento, two star-studded teams which are now well on their way to playoff berths. NHL fans deserve the same quality entertainment, especially at the prices they'll be shelling out for tickets.
National Felons League:
What is going on in the NFL? After a series of assault, burglary, weapons and drug charges filed against various players this past season, things have really gotten out of hand early in 2000.
First, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth was arrested for murder in the shooting of his pregnant girlfriend. Then last week, Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis was arrested on murder charges after two men were fatally stabbed at a Super Bowl party in Atlanta.
Both Carruth and Lewis face possible death penalties if convicted, but there may be hope for them yet. They could hire Johnnie Cochran to represent them and get off scot-free just like another former NFL star.
Many of the players getting into trouble already had checkered pasts. Yet some teams are all too willing to turn a blind eye if they think their chances of winning can be improved.
NFL teams evaluate the physical attributes of players exhaustively before and after drafting them. It's high time a little more effort was put into evaluating character. When a red flag goes up, teams should respond with either rejection or rehabilitation. The league's already damaged reputation is at stake.